Scott called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Karen offered the opening.

Minutes of the Council meeting of March 17, 2016 were approved as amended. Scott will make the corrections and get the revised Minutes to Maria

Ongoing Business

Team Visit Reports: None this past month.

Financial Report: Ron reported that we are in good shape, with revenue up the first quarter over the same quarter from last year.

Mission Trip 2016 update: Scott reported that he sold $110 in tickets so far on Sunday, April 17. Assignments have been made for the fundraiser dinner/auction on May 21; Chairs are Deb Dagnan for the auction and Peggy Murray for the meal. The youth will help out and share in the proceeds.

Fundraising for the Youth Trip to Florida: The goal is about $11,000; the trip can be done with $10,000. May 1 and 28 are the dates for car washes. Pizza night at Otto’s is also coming up in May. Everyone is registered for the trip that is going. The trip is the last week in July, the week following the Mission Trip. There are15 kids and 3 chaperones; 11 kids and 2 adults associated with our church, Anne Farley and 4 youth from her home church. Cindy reported that she is very hopeful that the needed amount will be raised, and is not worried.

Holly brought up the Cape Family Fun Day, which is on June 18 (rain date June 19). Last year, the church sponsored the rock wall and raised about $600. The youth could do it this year and get the proceeds.

Wayside Soup Kitchen update: A recognition dinner for volunteers will be on Tuesday, May 3.

Nominations Committee update: Elinor reported that the committee is in the process of calling prospective members. Anyone who can make calls is welcome to help; Scott and Dana offered to do that. Cindy said she would look through the list of members who have joined in the last 3 years and see what boards some of them might be interested in.

The Church annual meeting will be on May 22.

New Business

Communication on passing of church members: Cindy said she would have Tess set up an e-mail list to add to the Weekly Word, and send out a notice the day after the death when information is available.

Maxine Wright’s gift: The Church has received a $250,000 bequeathed from the estate of Maxine Wright. She had a list of provisions which relate to maintenance of the building itself. The money is temporarily in the checking account, and a special Frank and Maxine Memorial account will be set up. It will be a restricted fund that requires the Council to make decisions on expenditures, and it is to be spent. Scott suggested setting up a sub-committee to figure out the distribution of this amount and bring it back to Council in May for approval. He will coordinate with Nancy and the A team. Ron, Cindy and Scott will be on the committee, along with Nancy and Bruce. It was agreed to accept the gift; Council will have to get at least one more vote via e-mail, since we were one member short of a quorum.

Marie Nathan’s gift: Marie Nathan left a gift of $10,000 for “general charitable purposes,” which makes it an unrestricted gift. This is a legal phrase which means the Church can do what we want with it. Cindy said we can tithe it, which means we can give 10 percent of it to a ministry within the church or any specific purpose (such as Crisis Ministries or Mission Outreach or whatever we choose). Elinor suggested that 10 percent of this gift be earmarked for Mission Outreach, the way we used to in the past. Council voted to accept the gift, with 10 percent being tithed to Mission Outreach or other charitable endeavor (inside or outside the church).

Fall Rummage Sale: Prudy would like to hold the rummage sale on October 22, and this date has been cleared with the church calendar. Cindy wants to check with the schools to ensure there is not a conflict with the date before Council gives the okay.

Mission Outreach Coordinator: Scott reported that the calendar year finished in the black with $42,000, and we’re anticipating something similar this coming year. He proposes for 2016 to take money from the retained surplus account for Kathy Sahrbeck’s salary (about $17,026) rather than the CCM surplus funds that Morgan Stanley maintains for the church. If we continued the way we’re going, the money would be gone in three or four years. Cindy said that if Nancy hasn’t already moved it from Morgan Stanley, it will be. Motion made and passed by those at the meeting; need one more vote.

Addendum: Because we did not have a quorum, we had to wait to hear from Council members who were not at the meeting in order to approve the gifts from Maxine Wright and Marie Nathan, as well as the change in Kathy Sahrbeck’s salary. We have since received affirmative votes from Peggy Murray, Robin Mead, Tim Proctor and John Howard.

Pastor’s Moment

Conference minister Deborah Blood will be preaching on Sunday, May 1, and would like to meet with church leaders after the service. Cindy said we need to decide whom to invite and get invitations out right away. It was decided that designated representatives from each group will be invited.

The crosswalk in front of the church will get special light that blinks when pedestrians push the button and want to cross. After an incident with a parent and child from the Discovery Center, Director Kathy Jones called the City and the decision has been made to install this type of light.

Cindy made the executive decision to delegate every $1 in the collection plates to CCM.

Cindy reported on a national organization called Family Promise that will be coming to Portland. Family Promise has more than 200 affiliates in 42 states. How it works: every Sunday, families changes churches. Cots arrive on Sunday; we feed them dinner, play with the children, help with homework, spend the evening with them. There is a maximum of 5 families, 14 people total. During the week, the children go to school; after making lunches for the kids, the adults then go to a center for showers and to spend the day. Case managers work with the families to find better jobs and get them out of the program, with a goal of 30 to 60 days. The success rate of this program is 75 percent, which means getting a family back on its feet and self-sustaining. Child care is not provided. There is no cost associated with this, but it does require a lot of volunteer hours. Family Promise is hoping to start in 6 months to a year, and has already contacted the City of Portland. All Council members at the meeting gave Cindy the okay to have our church be one of 13 host churches in the Greater Portland area, which would mean a commitment of one week four times a year.

Scott brought up the fact that this would make more work for Tom and the weekend sextant. John S. wanted to make sure how this fits in with other programs that exist in Portland and that we have the option to back out if it’s not going as expected. He will look into the program, and get back to Council if he sees any concerns. Cindy made it clear that if we are not comfortable with the program at any time, we can back out; there is no contract.

A Christian Family: Loving, Welcoming, Serving

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